"Dahahahaha~! Comin' in hot!" Run shouts, rapidly approaching the ground. He rolls as soon as his feet strike the ground and quickly bounds to his feet with a grin on his face. "Man, she is in a foul mood." By some miracle the four of them have managed to land unscathed but for the knocks they'd received courtesy of Nami. "All this over a little treasure." They immediately set out in search of the man, combing the streets carefully and eventually locate him unconscious in the middle of the street, surrounded on all sides by mounds of treasure.
"Oh, guys, look!" Luffy calls as they approach. "There he is! That was easy!"
"He got knocked out cold by a single punch," Zoro says. "How pathetic."
"Look at all this treasure scattered around," Sanji adds. "Is that furry king really going to give us all of this?" Run whistles softly in appreciation, crouching down to pick up a gold bar in one hand and a gold necklace with large amethyst pendant in the other.
"Whew~! Nami's gonna be over the moon with all of this," Run says, looking over the items for a moment. "Aah, I'm gonna hang onto these, fellas." The red head carefully tucks them away into a pocket of his coat and looks down at the unconscious man. "Still, I can't believe he could actually store all of this inside him. That's a pretty useful ability for a Logia! Imagine all the sake you could..." His brow furrows and he quickly thrusts his hands out in front of the trio of men. "Wait! Nobody move, nobody move...I dropped my sake jug somewhere."
"Don't worry about that right now, idiot! Just help us pick all this stuff up!" The four of them quickly load up all the treasure into some...borrowed sacks and immediately head back toward the palace. They aren't exactly sure which way to take but they pick a direction none-the-less. As they're walking back, however, they find themselves approaching a large crowd.
"Oh, look! It's a crowd!" Luffy calls, looks around for a moment before breaking out into a grin. "Ohh! It's the Candy Factory! Pappagu told me about it!"
"Really?" Run questions him. "Think we could hop a flying fish back to the palace from here?"
"I'm sure they're making all sorts of yummy sweets in there! Just like the one's we had at the banquet! Oi! Candy Factory!" The people of the crowd turn and quickly greet their Captain, happy to see the 'hero' of Fishman Island. The Minster of the Left stands at the head of the crowd, confronted by a tall man with an egg-shaped body and another person with a very cat like appearance.
"L-Luffy, what are you doing here?" the Minster of the Left asks. "I-Is the banquet finished already?"
"It's still going but I ate a lot there! The meat was good but those sweets from Fishman Island were the best!" The crowd falls deadly silent at this, all of them looking between Luffy and the man with the cat like appearance quickly several times. The crowd behind the Minster all immediately raise their hands, signaling Luffy to be quiet quickly.
"Did he say sweets?!" screams the cat man. "Who are they?!" The man produces a large stack of papers and quickly flips through them. "Ooh! He's 'Straw Hat' Luffy, no doubt about it! Just what exactly is such a notorious pirate doing here?!" The Minster of the Left seems to be at a loss for words. "Brat! Which sweets are you talking about?!"
"Mr. Pekoms!" begins the Minster. "Please, let me explain!"
"Who are you?" Luffy asks. "You're not a Fishman, are you? You must have come to buy sweets! I just finished stuffing myself full of them!"
"What's going on?!" demands Pekoms. "He just said he ate them! Was the factory destroyed or not?!"
"Oh, a talking lion! But I guess it's not really a big deal! We've got something like that after all!"
"Are you messing with me, kid?!" Pekoms lifts his sunglasses to reveal his small eyes which results in a round of laughter from Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji much to his chagrin.
"Awww! He's got a baby face!" Run says, approaching and surprising them all by reaching out and actually scratching Pekoms under his chin. "Who's a good little kitty cat? You are! Yes, you are!" Rather than recoil, Pekoms actually leans forward, a rumbling purr escaping him for several moments before he finally catches himself and steps back.
"You bastard! Are you trying to make fun of me?! Huh?! You wanna--"
"Pekoms," begins the egg shaped man. "Making such a threatening gesture won't help retrieve the sweets." The man takes a sip from a steaming mug calmly. "Let's settle this peacefully-soir. The tea party is four days from now-bon. We can make it on time if we leave tomorrow morning-jour."
"Another weird one," mutters Luffy. "Who are you?"
"Bon to meet you, you half boiled pirates. My name is Baron Tamago-soir!" The man stands, towering over all of them completely. "Please, make sure to remember my name. Now you gentlemen, did you say that you have eaten the sweets from this factory?" He approaches them, covering the distance in two strides.
"That's right! I want to have more if they have them! They were really delicious!"
"They don't. That's why we don't know what to do-bon!" He raises his hand, motioning towards a Jolly Roger plastered on the factory wall. "This big mark on the factory is the Jolly Roger of the great pirate and our boss, Charlotte Linlin-soir. It claims the Island as Big Mom's territory, as she is one of the Yonko. Which means that Fishman Island is protected under her name-bon!"
"Sounds like a nice person! I wanna meet your boss! Big Mom, huh?"
"Don't mistake this arrangement for anything other than business. In exchange for ten tons of sweets a month, we allow them to use this mark. Mama loves sweets more than anything. Sweets from Fishman Island are her favorite. So, we'll wait until tomorrow morning."
"B-Baron, I told you already," begins the Minister. "The factory's giant cooking machines are broken and we need at least two weeks to repair them!"
"That's unacceptable."
"Oi, Tamago!" shouts Sanji. "Why can't you wait?!"
"Is your boss' mind as small as his balls?" grunts Zoro. "He's one of the Yonko, right?"
"Big Mom is a woman," Run tells them.
"Yes, she is," agrees Tamago. "She is a great pirate woman. I don't think she has balls."
"What's the big deal?" Sanji asks. "So what if you can't get them on time? What's going to happen?"
"If that's the case...then the deal is off! Members of the Big Mom Pirates will descend on the Island and destroy it in no time!"
"Are you guys nuts?!" demands Luffy. "You can't destroy a country over some candy! This country was just saved!" Tamago is silent for a few moments before eventually letting out a long sigh.
"What should I do? They aren't even half-boiled, they're completely raw. What should I do with these fearless rookies?" Before the man can do anything, a transponder snail begins ringing. Both Pekoms and Tamago both seem to go from relaxed to on edge in an instant. Both stand frozen before the transponder, neither of them wanting to answer it...so Luffy does.
"Hello?"
"...You're not Tamago, nor Pekoms, are you," asserts the voice. "Who are you?"
"Monkey D. Luffy! I'm going to be King of the Pirates!"
"Monkey D.? Aaah! You're Garps grandson! You were that brat who meddled in the war two years ago."
"The sweets are gone! I ate all of them!"
"There should be ten tons!"
"I ate all ten tons!"
"Don't lie to me, fool. You're just covering for Fishman Island."
"It's true, every word. I didn't know that they were going to you! We have a lot of treasure here! You can have it for the sweets!"
"I can't eat treasure! I want candy!" Tamago finally seems to find his voice, and snatches the receiver away from Luffy. He tells her that since Captain Kidd sank two of their ships a few days ago they've been short of money lately. If they could take the treasure and post-pone the sweets it would be the best course of action for all involved. Silence reigns for several seconds before Big Mom explodes, telling Tamago that he should be ashamed of himself for even considering bargaining with them...but she finds her composure after her rant. "Still...that brat who stood up to me has piqued my interest. Have it your way, instead of Fishman Island, I'll just take my revenge against all of you! Monkey D. Luffy...now I know your name! Come to the New World!"
"Sure. There's some business I want to settle with you, so wait for me. I'm gonna kick your ass all across the New World...and make Fishman Island my territory...!"
- - -
"What did you want me to do?!" demands Luffy. "She was going to destroy the Island over some candy! Can you believe how crazy she is? I mean, I could understand it if it was over some meat but candy?! But don't even worry about it! I stood up to her!" Really, they should have seen it coming in the end. Nami sent them out to retrieve the treasure from the man that had robbed the palace and attempted to take Shirahoshi...and they'd come back empty handed. Naturally, she'd be beside herself with anger even if they'd done it for a good reason.
"You stood up to one of the Yonko?!" demand Chopper, Usopp and Brook.
"You talked back to Big Mom?!" shouts Jinbei.
"Relax, relax!" Run tells them. "It's not like we're totally broke. I was planning on hanging onto this for a rainy day but--" The red head digs into his coat pocket and produces a small golden ingot before tossing it to Nami with a grin. "--I guess this qualifies. Some treasure is better than no treasure, right?" She carefully catches the item, Beli signs briefly flashing in her eyes as she presses it to her cheek.
"Good job, Run!" Nami tells him. "You're really the only one of those idiots that I can count on!" He nods in understanding, approaching Robin while he reaches into his pocket again.
"Wow! You're really tough, Luffy!" giggles Shirahoshi.
"That's not the point!" Usopp shouts, causing Shirahoshi to begin crying immediately.
"Boy, that's not good," Jinbei sighs. "I have to break away from Big Mom before it gets complicated. You guys just make sure not to do anything that'll make her angrier."
"We won't! We're all gonna get killed since she's one of the Yonko!"
"We didn't really have much of a choice," agrees Sanji.
"What's done is done," adds Zoro.
"I guess you really didn't have a choice," sighs Nami, approaching slowly. "Aah, Run, would you please take a few steps to your left~?" Her voice is sweet...and oddly disturbing to the red head who not only steps in that direction, but briefly blurs from view before reappearing behind Robin, peeking over her shoulder carefully. "Even so, why..." She quickly produces her staff and gives none of the three remaining men chance to react before beating them into the dirt. "...did you give all the treasure away?!" Rather than be phased by her violence, Luffy immediately sits back up.
"L-Let's go to the New World!"
With Luffy's decree, and everything determined to set sail for the New World, they headed for the port. Most of Fishman Island has gathered to see off the 'heros' that had saved them, turning it into quite the raucous event. The people kindly offered them all kinds of supplies for their journey. While the crew is raring to go to the New World, Shirahoshi is less than thrilled to see them leaving. She immediately begins crying her eyes out while asking them to stay for another day, then another week and finally another year. While this is going on the Minster of the Left takes the opportunity to give Nami a new Log Pose.
"Here, you'll need this New World Log Pose," the Minster tells her.
"Aah, thank you, but we already have one," Nami replies, showing the man her wrist. "Aah, wait a minute! Run! How am I supposed to use this?" The red head, who has been loading cargo onto the Sunny, pauses on the deck of the ship and leans against the railing with a grin.
"Dahahaha~! That's a good question!" laughs Run. "I imagine that you use it like a Log Pose in Paradise. The only difference is that instead of just recording the pull of a single island, it instead records three different ones at once. That way if one of the islands changes or hides it's magnetic pull, then you can just change course to a different island. It's one of the many reasons that nagivating in the New World is such a challenge. Oh! Before I forget, Snake told me that the more the needle pointing to an island wavers or shakes, the more dangerous the island in question is. That said, I have complete faith in you, Nami!"
"What?! I don't like this! I'd rather not know about that!" Luffy immediately stretches his neck out, wrapping around Nami to take a look at the Log Pose on her wrist.
"Ohhh! That one is shaking a lot! That must be where the party is!" Luffy says with a grin. This immediately spawns an argument between Luffy and Nami. When all the cargo has finally been packed away, they make ready to sail. Franky has learned how to ascend to the surface, and they more or less know the direction they're going. With that, they're finally ready to set sail, leaving behind a promise to Shirahoshi that the next time they meet, they'll take her to the surface to see the world.
"Let's set sail...!"
- - -
"Luffy, Usopp," begins Run, looking at the two men and then the rope in his hands. "Why am I holding this rope?"
"Just have a little faith!" Usopp tells him with a grin. "I'm almost finished here!"
"I have the utmost faith in your abilities, Usopp. Never doubt that. However, seeing as how the last time you told me to hold a rope, I ended up taking a dip with some Sky Sharks...I have some concerns." Choosing to ignore him, both he and Luffy continue tying knot after knot, wrapping rope this way and that. The two of them seem to have it in their heads that they've absolutely got to catch one of the deep sea fish swimming around them.
"C'mon, it'll be fine, Run!" laughs Luffy. "I can't believe I didn't think of this before! I was so excited about seeing Fishman Island, that I completely forgot about it! If we catch one of this deep sea fish we can have Sanji cook it up for us!"
"You all seem to be having fun," Robin calls, approaching them. "I see you're holding the rope again."
"Seems to be my lot in life," Run says with a grin.
"Let's find one that'll go well with cola!" adds Franky.
"Cook, huh?" Zoro asks. "That's a good idea! Can't wait to have a drink in celebration of entering the New World!" Usopp and Luffy approach the edge of the ship, holding tight to the make-shift hook that they've fashioned together from some bent metal and rope. The two of them debate of what kind of fish is going to taste the best before Luffy finally decides on some strange looking fish that appears more fat that meat. Without allowing any room for rebuttal, he immediately kills it with a single punch enhanced by Second Gear.
"Hurry, hurry! Catch it!" shouts Luffy.
"Special Attack! Capture Star!" Usopp cries, firing the hook off at the large fish.
"Wait," begins Run. "Hold--" The rope snaps taut, and Run takes an involuntary step in the direction of the fish before catching himself and holding tight. "Whoa-ho! Heavier than it looks, that's for sure!"
"Quick, quick, Run!" Luffy calls. "Reel it in! I wanna eat it already!" A brief chuckle escapes Run, who begins pulling the fish in, hand over hand at least until a much larger fish suddenly snaps it up, nearly swallowing it whole in a single bite. Before any of them can react, another even bigger fish snaps the second one up whole. "They just keep coming! Hurry up and reel it in already, Run!" Run strains for a moment before continuing to reel it in, hand over hand.
"Just let it go, pal! That's OUR fish! Get your own!"
"One Sword Style...Three-hundred and Sixty pound Phoenix!" Zoro's strike kills the massive fish in a single blow just as Sanji and Brook appear on deck, covered in char and still smoking slightly.
"What's all this noise about?" Sanji questions them. "Oh? I see you caught a deep sea fish! That's great! I can't wait to cook it!" Run approaches the railing of the Sunny, and quickly ties off the captured fish to the railing before stepping away with a sigh.
"Aah, well, at least we won't go hungry for a while," mutters Run. "We...oh-ho! Hey! We've got a problem!" Run quickly motions to the raging currents in the distance. "We need to go quickly! It's--"
"Whitestrom!" Robin finishes. "It's a giant whirl pool that appears out of the blue in the deep sea! When a ship gets caught up in it, it's sweep off course and usually appears far away missing it's crew!" Nami suddenly sprints out of the cabin out onto the deck with Chopper tailing.
"Everyone! We need to get away from that whirlpool now!" demands Nami. "And cut that fish loose! We can't advance if we're pulling that!" Unfortunately, before they can act on it the fish they've got trailing behind them is yanked into the Whitestrom, and drags them in along with it. "Hold on tight to the ship!" Run grasps the nearest railing, and finds himself yanked up away from the deck quickly as the ship begins to pitch and roll. He quickly glances around the deck, making sure that everyone has managed to hold onto something and breaks out into a grin...and then laughter when he finds everyone holding tight.
Then, as suddenly as it's all began, it comes to an abrupt halt with the crew finding themselves sprawled out across the deck of the Sunny. As they all scrape themselves from the deck, they glance around slowly...and come to the realization that they're surrounded on all sides by a pod of Island Whales! Brook is very suddenly beside himself, calling out for Laboon, despite the fact that it's impossible for him to have made it here. Regardless of this, he quickly grabs up his violin and begins playing and singing 'Bink's Sake'. It quickly becomes clear that the Island Whales appreciate his singing as one of them gently begins to give the Sunny a lift towards the surface.
It takes almost no time at all for the light of the surface to begin shining through. It's so close...the New World...the greatest and most dangerous sea in the world...!